Time Takes Prisoners
by StrawberryStarr
Summary: Two girls decide to visit their friends in Korea. What was first an adventure quickly turns upside down when their lives collide with EXO on the verge of stardom, quickly entangled in their affairs. Skyla Lin and Hazel Tran had no idea it would foreshadow obstacles of drama and love. This will be the one fateful encounter will drive them crazy for a long time.
1. Foreword

Hello, Kristy and Crystal here! This is our first fanfiction together, so go easy on us, okay? Please leave a review or even a quick comment! We love to here your thoughts :D And don't forget to favorite & follow us! ;3

We're also using EXO members' real names interchangeably throughout the story. Don't know their real names behind their stage names? Here they are!

Xiumin - Minesok

Kai - Jongin

D.O - Kyungsoo

Suho - Joonmyun

Chen - Jongdae

Lay - Yixing

Luhan, Sehun, Kris, Tao, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun are already going by their actual names.

**_"Time waits for no one. When people meet each other again after a long while, it becomes complicated._**

**_Time changes the little things in people. One person will be stuck in the past, wanting to rekindle what they had before, and the other will go forward, hoping for a new future._**

**_Time will catch you, seize you, and trap you."_**


	2. Chance

**AN: Hey, Crystal here! I'm one of the co-authors for this story and I'm so excited to be sharing our first fanfiction together! ^~^  
Leave constructive criticism and lots of love in reviews!**

* * *

The busyness of the streets of Seoul can be easily replicated in any major city in the world with the bustling of people rushing, the endless noises of car honking and people shouting, and the collective sounds of the urban life. Nothing, not even the chilly atmosphere, could ever end this sort of crowd. On a pleasantly sunny and cold afternoon in the Gwanghwamun Square, two Asian girls with a multitude of shopping bags huddle over a Smartphone, acting like complete tourists.

"Sky, I think we're _kind_ of lost," the long-haired taller one with square spectacles said, scanning the streets around to find a sense of familiarity.

Playing with the end of her dark ponytail, the other girl purses her lips and laces her words with sarcasm. "Umm ... ya think?"

"Well, you were the one in charge of the directions and stuff, Skyla," her friend replies with a lackluster comeback.

Skyla "Sky" Lin throws Hazel Tran a look of indignation. "Sooyeon was the one who gave us the directions, so it's not my fault. Also, it's Sky, not Skyla."

"Whatever, let's just try to find our way back to the hotel before we die of frostbite."

Nodding, Sky agrees and both start to head down towards a busy intersection before quickly realizing they still have no idea where they are going and the sun is beginning to set. Continuing to walk in utter confusion in an environment alien to both, they do the one thing nobody should do in this situation: they panic.

"Hazel, it's getting dark and we're still out here."

"Are we even close to the hotel?"

And then, the English begins to slip out.

"I JUST SAW THE SAME LAMP POST FIVE MINUTES AGO."

"ARE WE WALKING IN CIRCLES? SKY?

"DON'T FREAK OUT."

"I AM FREAKING OUT."

Someone's hand gently taps Sky's shoulder and, in her state of hysteria, she swings around so fast and before she knows it, the shopping bags in her hand become a dangerous weapon and slap the living daylights out of the stranger who asked for her attention in the first place.

"_Mianhae, gwaenchanh-a__?_! I'm sorry, are you okay?!" she hastily apologizes in broken Korean as her panic vanishes abruptly and she's left to deal with a tall boy lying on the ground and his friend whose kneeling by his side, his face contorted in a strange way as if he's trying to hold back laughter. Hazel hurries over and crouches by the fallen stranger and along with his friend, helps the guy up onto his feet.

"I'm fine, thanks," the presumably Korean boy responds with near-perfect English with, quickly running his fingers through his longish hair streaked with camouflaging honey colors. Clearly, he must be thinking that if he knew he was going to be assaulted with shopping bags for getting a girl's attention, he would've kept on walking on by.

In sheer disbelief, Hazel says in a dumbfounded manner, "You speak English?" She exchanges looks with Sky, still standing there with her shopping bags with her dark brown eyes widened and her jaw hanging so low it could scrape the ground.

The guy, though towering and solemnity etched onto his face, smiles, stretching his lips over his teeth, at their shocked state. "Yes, I can. That's why I came to talk to you. I overheard that you girls are lost?"

"Praise the Lord," Sky mutters under her breath and Hazel elbows her in the gut. They nod cautiously and tell them of their stay in Korea and while Sky explains their predicament, Hazel sneaks a glance at the victim's friend, similar in height with sweeping black hair that spills over into his eyes, giving him a permanent brooding stare. She couldn't help but stare to try to find where his eyes are, not realizing that by looking into his eyes, he can look at her too and thus, creates an awkward moment that puts words to shame.

"I think I know where you are talking about," the English-speaking boy continues, gesturing in some obscure direction behind him. "It's actually that way."

"I knew it," Hazel sighs.

"No, shut up, I knew it too," Sky counters. "Clearly, I had it all under control."

Their aide chuckles, clearly amused at the banter. "My friend and I are headed in that direction, actually. We can lead you there."

"Are you sure?" the bespectacled girl says, raising an arched eyebrow. "We wouldn't want to cause any more trouble, especially since this girl almost sent you to the hospital just now." She receives a sharp elbow jab in her gut almost immediately. Totally worth it.

He shakes his head. "It's alright. It'll be safer too."

"Sorry again about that," Sky says, tugging on her ponytail to make it tighter.

The boy runs his fingers through his long hair again and smiles this time with his nice, straight teeth showing. "Like I said, I don't mind. My name is Kris," he gestures towards his brooding friend with dark circles that completely wrap around his face, "and this is Tao. Sorry, he's not mean - he doesn't speak English very well."

Hazel perks up. "Really?" She walks closer to Tao. "_Ni hao. Wo de mingzi shi Hazel. _My name is Hazel."

The tough, bad-boy image that she thought Tao has adopted cracks just a bit when his eyes light up and he smiles politely. "_Ni hui shuo zhongwen?_ You can speak Chinese?_"_

She laughs a little. _"Hui. Wo men shi zhongguo ren. Wo de pengyou jiao Sky. _Yes, I can, and we're both Chinese. My friend is called Sky."

The boy with hair like calligraphy ink begins to speak in rapidfire Chinese. They're quickly countered by the collective group's responses in the scattered language. Kris and Tao lead the way down streets illuminated by shop lights and the bustling of buyers.

"Why are you guys in Korea?" Tao asks with his smile now a faint ghost lingering on the edge of his lips "Just visiting, of course," Hazel replies. She feels compelled to smile back. He looks just like a kid with that goofy grin. "Some friends of ours live in Seoul and invited us to come see them."

He nods understandably. "But why don't you stay with them instead?"

Sky takes over. "Oh, it's too crowded there. So we thought that it would be a fun staying at a hotel. Having the entire tourist experience, ya know?"

"That's smart," noted Kris, as Tao briefly takes over the conversation with the topic of the weather. Hazel politely answers each time at the right places in his weak, but thoughtful intent to keep the conversation going.

Luckily, the girls see the hotel before the conversation officially ran its course.

"Thank you for showing us the way," Sky says. "You really didn't have to walk us all the way to the hotel."

"It's okay," Kris reassure, waving it off. "It wasn't out of our way."

"Kris, we were supposed to turn right ten minutes ago," Tao says.

"Where?"

"Near the coffee shop."

"I think you meant the crossroads over there, Tao," Kris gestures to their far left."

Tao purses his lips, deeply thinking. "But, Kris -"

The tall one with blond hair suddenly claps his hands together, jolting those in his surroundings. "It's been fun and we'll see you around?"

"Yeah, maybe," Sky playfully replies. "We'll be staying here for a bit. See you around." She laughs nervous. "Bye, _zai-jian_."

"Bye, stay safe."

"_Zai-jian_."

And the four of them go their separate ways, one pair to the cute little coffee shop they deliberately missed a few streets back and braving the slowly dropping temperatures, while the other pair with shopping bags strolls into a modest hotel lobby and feeling the warmth spreading to their fingertips. As the two non-natives step into the elevator, Hazel brings up their sources to get back to their quarters.

"Ah, people in Korea are so nice!" she sighs as she presses the button for their room floor.

The hair tie out that has been in her hair since this morning is pulled out. Sky shakes her dark hair out, letting it fall around her shoulders in a bristly manner. The feeling of her tight, pulled-back hair finally loose from its binds comes rushing to her, relieved as her head feels loads lighter. Running her fingers through her hair, she replies, "They're Chinese, you fool."

Hazel unravels her scarf and holds it in her hands, finally free of the scratchy material of the only scarf she brought to Korea. "It doesn't matter. The guy is pretty cute though."

"Which guy?"

"The tall one."

"Um, hello? They're both tall! But which one?"

"The guy with the black hair! The one who can't speak English at all and stuff."

Sky rolls her eyes. "Ehhhhh, he's okaaayyy."

"Whatever," Hazel says, grimacing as the elevator rings and gently opens to their floor. "Let's just get ready for dinner tonight. It's Sooyeon's birthday, after all. We got to make it special for her."

* * *

A couple of hours later, Hazel and Sky head out, armed with actually accurate directions this time and dressed a lot nicer than their sweaty, casual counterparts. With their dressy flats tip-tapping on the pavement and a nervous sense of excitement bubbling till the end of their fingertips of being in a city not theirs, the girls navigate through thick crowds and almost get knocked over several times. Someone actually steps, more like stomps, on Skyla's foot and casts a look of disdain when she yelps in surprise, as it is her fault that she falls in his way of his tyrannical stomping.

"What the – man, that hurts," she grimaces, rubbing her foot. "This is why you don't wear flats, ever. Where are my comfortable sneakers? There are too many people in Seoul."

Pressing close to a nearby shop to avoid any more interference, Hazel checks her injured friend's Map app on her phone. "Hey, it says here if we walk a few steps and turn here, then we can take a shortcut."

As they do just that, they break away from the stream of people and hurriedly turn the corner. Dimmed, hazy lights running along the sides of the streets. Faint music laced with heavy techno elements and bass rumble the streets. The amount of  
people out is moderate compared to the previous street, but the club and bar scene is completely alien to them.

"Hazel, this is shady," Skyla whispers loudly. "Let's get out of here. Hurry up!"

She waves it off. "We'll just pass through here quickly, no problem. Besides, we're near a busy road. I don't think anything would happen that we couldn't handle."

"Are you sure? 'Cause -"

"Ah, come on, we're going to be late."

Linking arms with one another, the two girls set out gingerly among the lesser crowds. People dressed liberally mill about in front of the various clubs and other establishments, their faces flickering of condescending expressions, while others noisily attempt to seize the night with loud laughter and cheers.

Hazel sees the worried look that latched itself to Sky's face. "It's fine, there are people around."

"Yeah, yeah, it's," there's an evil glint in her eye, "SPOOOOKY."

The knot in Hazel's stomach completely unravels itself as they double over in raucous laughter, continuing their brisk walk and an intentionally distracting conversation.

They make it as far as a few steps from the end of the street when two guys dressed in black saunter over from their stations outside a club and all of a sudden, grab the two girls' wrists. The strangers break their arm-linking and with a firm grasp on each of their wrist, they roughly drag them towards the club.

"Stop, what are you doing?" Sky stammers in shaky Korean. "I said stop, _meomchwo_!

Wrestling from her sudden captor's iron-grip, her companion says trembling, "Hey, let us go, _geumanhalago malhaessjanh-a_.What's going on?" Hazel looks around for help, frantically trying to meet the eyes of any of the bystanders. They continue on with their activities as if this is the norm in this scene.

"_Ileohge himdeulge hajimalgo geunyang deul-eowa," _one of the guys growls, speaking too fast for the non-natives to understand, but judging by the tone, the men's intentions cannot be of any good. "Don't make this hard and come inside."

Hazel tries to say something more, but her own kidnapper swiftly twists her wrist to an unnatural angle, leading her to cry out in pain and begin to struggle violently. She tries to wring out of his hold, yelling "Let us go!" over and over. Sky tries to force him off of her, sucker-punching him in the stomach repeatedly, and he takes it pretty hard as he doubles over in pain each time. But their efforts become futile as they continue to be dragged away, nobody stopping the two men at all. In the midst of their attempts to wrestle away, both of the girls hear thundering footsteps as well as unintelligible shouts ringing in their ears. The sounds get louder and louder - are they here to save them or are they here to help the male captors get away?

Out of sheer fear building up inside of her, Hazel lets it go, blurting in English laced with subtle seething rage. "Do you not understand the meaning 'stop'?! When someone says 'let me go,' you let her go right then." She sees the appalled look on the men's faces and continues to let the ball roll. "You guys better let us go right now or I swear to God, I will punch your Adam's apples, you moronic little shits."

The club employees clad in black leave their jaws hanging so low that it could scrap the ground as they immediately release their grasps, mutter an apology over and over as they scuttle away back to their place of unfortunate employment. Visibly rattled, the two friends check to see if the other one is okay.

Sky manages to find the energy to laugh a little out of nervousness and anxiety, happy to find a distraction. "Are you crying?"

Her friend lightly touches her face to find a few tears strewn down her cheeks. "Yeah, I guess I am. I was kind-of-really scared if you haven't noticed -" The rest of the sentence gets caught in her throat as she turns around, being introduced to a new form of surprise.

A cluster of Korean boys stand together, some out of breath as if they have ran a marathon while others share the same bewildered looks on what had just transpired: two young girls in clear trouble that couldn't be any deeper in danger that could only be saved by any male, or in this case multiple males, only to have their efforts be dashed. The girls stare blankly at them, taken aback by the sheer amount of the boys. Their faces are engraved with perplexity. Sky finds a backdoor out of the awkwardness by her recognition of a tall figure with hair streaked of honey colors and whose lips are really ajar.

"Kris," she breathes out his name. "Didn't think we would see you again." These simple words break down the uneasy silence slowly that has set in the atmosphere, and the boys shift from their offensive stances ready to pounce to a slightly more relaxed and flustered forms. Kris moves closer to the girls and hurriedly asks us in a clash of Chinese and English if they were okay, hardly letting them catch their breaths.

As they attempt to reply to his questions, one of the boys wearing an oversized hoodie and basketball shorts speak up instead and stepping towards the huddle. "_Ah, ni men shuo zhongwen? _You guys can speak Chinese?" With fair skin and slightly feminine-looking facial features, his fresh face carries the guise of maturity but tinged with a strange sense of youth. He couldn't be older than Skyla and Hazel and if not, a year or two older at most.

While Sky stares intently at this alien-looking guy, Hazel takes over. _"Wo men hui. Wo jiao Hazel. Wo de pengyou jiao Sky_." The boy smiles politely, displaying little crinkles around his eyes and introduces himself as Luhan, also joining in by asking if they were okay and if they have been hurt at all. The other boys slowly make their way to the has-been victims, as if their cautious approach is towards a pride of lions, and Sky and Hazel introduce themselves again.

"Does this happen all the time?" Hazel asks.

"Yeah, it does," Luhan replies. "I never actually seen it happen, but it does happen."

"Why?"

"Well -"

Their conversation abruptly ends when her friend suddenly shouts, "Get out of the way!"

Sky suddenly bolts from Hazel's side and tears through the group of their promising saviors, sprinting as fast as her legs could take her.

"SKYLA!"

She ignores her surroundings, running towards a complete stranger Hazel has never seen before. The others, however, react more profusely as most of them hurry after her, saying a Korean word they all pick up immediately. Some are slow to react, standing there in distress before groggily moving, shouting the word collectively alien to the girl's ears and tongue.

"Chanyeol!


	3. Incident

**AN: Aye yo heyy everyone! Kristy here~ I'm so excited working on this this fanfic with my partner Crystal. Please give us your support :)**

**But OMG CHANYEOL, WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM?! Ready to find out?**

**Here we gooooo~ enjoy!**

* * *

Sky rushes hurriedly to a towering guy with distinctively large ears and what he lacks in brain cells makes up for it in his ears as due to the shock and awe of seeing a pair of girls talk their way out of the status of damsels-in-distress, he subconsciously steps back from the situation. He steps right into the line of traffic on the streets of Seoul. He steps right in front of an incoming black sedan hurtling towards him at an unearthly speed. He hears the droning honks and sees the vehicle a little too late. He tries to say something, but words just collect in his throat. The deer caught in the headlights, too stunned to move.

It will all be over within a few seconds' passing, but he couldn't even close his eyes.

Sky quickly darts in and out of people's ways, throwing her hand out, and roughly grabs the edge of the would-be road kill's sleeve. She yanks him hard and out of harm's way. He sees her and doesn't really register anything except for the panicking look in her eyes, but she looks away. As seconds goes by, she realizes that by the path the boy is falling, she'll be crushed when he lands on her. It's too late now. The idiot also trips over the curb, propelling himself faster to the ground and completely overwhelming her strength. The chorus of "Chanyeol! Chanyeol!" comes crashing around her ears as the blunt force of his weight merges with gravity, slamming her against the concrete pathway. Sky lets out a cry as her back takes in most of the impact and squeezes her eyes shut, bracing for the full attack.

It never comes.

Shouts and yelps burst in the air and the wind gets knocked out of her lungs, being shoved out by sudden hits against her sternum and throat. She slowly opens her eyes to see the night sky overhead, craning her neck to the direction the odd sounds were coming from. Sky's eyes widen. Instead of landing completely on her, the stupid guy manages to take down more victims to break his fall. She recognizes some of their faces from only encountering them a couple of minutes before. Groaning and yelling in Korean profanity, the girl with a stature of five feet and four inches is pinned down among them, a pile of human beings sprawled on the pavement and catching the eyes of bystanders. She could barely move from both the random arms and legs draped on top of her and the dull ache running up and down her spine.

"SKY!" Hazel screams, holding back her hysteria, shoving people out her way to get to her fallen friend's side and tries her best to move her out of the morass of people. Kris and Tao and the others, who didn't rush out fast enough to help their friend, rushes over also, untangling them from each other and acting as supports with their arms slung over each other's shoulders. Those unhurt holds the injured steadily to keep them from falling over and various degrees of pain registers on the five boys that became hurt in place of a possible death. The one that Hazel figures to be Chanyeol clings to a guy a little shorter than him, murmuring encouraging words under his breath to keep him going, and limps bit by bit towards Hazel and Sky, the latter holding onto the former tightly and could barely walk herself.

"Are you okay?" he asks surprisingly softly considering his large stature, but his words come out slow and deliberate, barely able to mask the amount of pain he's experiencing. Sky has no idea what he just said but caught the underlying tones of worry. She only nods, slumping against Hazel's side for support and refuses to speak anymore.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" a stern voice cuts through the air bluntly. They turn to see one of the taller guys with tanned skin holding onto someone, only a few inches taller than the pair of girls, with an expression that is as close to murderous as you can get. His large eyes, brown colors floating in a sea of white, focusing intensely at the girls, especially Sky. If looks could kill, she wouldn't last a second any longer.

Kris hastily calls out a name, Joonmyun, who wasn't injured and had knelt next to one of the fallen who luckily doesn't seem too hurt as he clasps his hand on his head. Joonmyun comes over quickly and discusses with the others on what to do and the conversation remains in hushed, foreign tones.

Hazel turns her attention to her friend. "Are you okay?"

Sky breathes sharply. "Yeah."

"Really?"

"No."

"You little liar," Hazel tries to rouse a reaction out of her, but she only receives a small smile in return. Tao takes up Sky's other arm, not saying anything as he helps keep her upright and stable gently. Hazel appreciates the sincerity. "Let's get to a hospital."

* * *

Hazel and the others waits patiently in the lobby of the too-clean emergency room, though "patiently"would not be the best word to describe it. Anxiety hangs over them like a cloud and nobody could really sit still. She keeps adjusting her glasses every so often, pushing them up the bridge of her nose while fighting off the urge to move her leg up and down to fight off the nerves. Her fingers move without a thought, weaving in and out of her hair curling around her elbows and tapping against her legs. The guys aren't faring better, with some pacing around the room in their attempts to fight off the nerves, while others scatter themselves around the room sitting in the chairs, either quietly conversing with one another or tampering with their cellular devices. Hazel can hear Joonmyun faintly in the hallway around the corner, talking to someone on the phone and apologizing over and over. It must be someone important, or they must have missed something important tonight. Feelings of guilt takes hold of her, settling over her fidgety senses as she clasps her hands together and stares at her lap.

"_Are you okay_?" Tao asks as he quietly sits next to her. She doesn't look up at her hands, clenched so tightly that her knuckles are turning white.

"Fine," she says, wondering how she even got herself in a bizarre situation. Instead of celebrating a close friend's birthday, Hazel and Sky are in the least festive place possible. Feelings mount on top of each other, building up and higher and she finds herself on her feet. "I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?"

He shakes her head as she makes herself scarce, turning into the hallway, giving a wave and smiling at Joonmyun, and begins to aimlessly wander the corridors for something she's not sure really exists. Doctors and nurses takes no heed to Hazel as she half-attempts to find some sort of vending machine and the other time to kill time, puting off going back to the awkward environment stirring up in the waiting room as much as she can. Hazel calls Sooyeon finally, but the birthday girl fails to pick up after a few times, so she left a message apologizing for not showing up and promising a full explanation. Armed with a flowery can of green tea, she makes her way back and just as she's about to turn the corner, angry voices greets her. Hazel leans against the wall, her back pressed flat and tries not to pay attention. It's not her business. The voices rise and fall, shushing if it gets too loud, but it sounds pretty serious.

A voice, clear as day and just as familiar, rings in the air. She recognizes it belonging to the boy with the murderous eyes and seems to be an accusation of some sorts to something, or to someone. He sounds so calm for someone who seemingly gave Sky the devil's eye. The voices of the seven guys alone in the room never rises above murmurs and mutters, but they might as well have shouted to one another, speaking too fast to be understood and anger generally buzzes around the waiting room and spills into the hallway over where Hazel is. She sighs, tossing the can back and forth between her hands and staring at the scrawling on the ceilings. How can you walk into something and not make it worse?

"Ah, Hazel?" She looks up to see another unfamiliar face dressed in a gray sweater and jeans. It's one of them, Kris and Tao's friends. The one startling feature he has that puts her off is his fascinatingly large, almond-shaped eyes that would have looked buggy on anyone else, but with his slightly chubby cheeks and shaggy black hair hanging around his ears, this guys seems to make it work and make it work well.

"Yes?" she replies, letting the alien word settle on her tongue and letting the gears in her mind shift over to another language. He proceeds to ask her something but because of recent events numbing her mind, she couldn't keep up with words translating to gibberish.

"I'm sorry, um, what - I mean what is - what's the word - ugh, wait -"

He laughs good-naturedly at her failed tries, putting his hand up in a gesture of peace. "It's okay, try again."

"Sorry," Hazel obliges, "my Korean isn't very good."

He wave sit off. "It's not bad at all, but I don't think you're Korean, are you?"

"No, I'm Chinese."

"Really? Your English was very good when we heard it."

She cocks her head to the side. "Oh, yeah, Sky and I are visiting from the United States."

He looks intrigued. "You're from America and you're Chinese too? How did you even learn Korean then?

"We learned it on the side and - not important," Hazel gestures behind her at the direction towards the discussion that is fighting a losing battle of being quiet. What is going on?"

His eyebrows knit together, betraying the cool expression he kept in his childlike eyes. "Nothing important. They're always arguing over something."

She can tell how uncomfortable he is, shifting his weight back and forth. "It is important, isn't it?" she says quietly. "Is it over what happened? With your friends getting hurt?"

He reluctantly nods. "It's sooooooomething like that, but you really shouldn't worry, it's nothing serious."

The supposedly "not-serious" conversation going on around the corner escalates. But this time, Hazel can hear them, loud and clear.

"It's their fault that we're here in the first place! If we didn't stop to help them, Chanyeol, Yixing, Jongin, Luhan, and Jongdae wouldn't be here if it weren't for them! AISH, REALLY!"

Loud footsteps quickly follow and someone roughly shoves Hazel aside, forcing her to drop her drink and letting it clatter to the ground. When she looks up to protest, she's met with squinted eyes and heavy breathing. This is the guy who was helping up Chanyeol, supporting him even though he is a good head shorter. She was wrong from before. The murderous eyes she met before are a joyful sight compared to the guy standing before her, his cheeks flushed with ire.

He glares at the guy she was trying to convince to tell her what's going on. "What the hell are you doing, Minesok? Hanging out with her?" he says harshly before shoving past him and stomping away.

"Baekhyun!" Minesok says, his words falling on deaf ears. He quickly turns to Hazel, lost for words and completely rattled. "I'm sorry about that, Hazel."

She shakes her head as he picks up the green tea and drops it in her waiting hands. "No, don't worry. Go after him. He needs someone right now."

The corners of Minesok's mouth goes up slightly as he pats her arm before scurrying off to find his furious friend. She cradles the can in her arm, her fingers tracing a noticeable dent in the candy-cane-striped carnations on the drink. If she stays here any longer, swimming in this unbearable tension, she could end up drowning, or make things even worse, whichever came first. God, she didn't mean any of this to happen, especially for her best friend, Sky. The air stings her eyes and she rubs them as she enters the waiting room again.

The awkwardness intensifies greatly and she meets the eyes of everyone, who some she thinks, share the same sentiments as that guy, Baekhyun. She doesn't try to hide her knowledge of what happened in her absence. It's her fault; it's her and Sky's fault. Hazel could barely hear Joonmyun repeating the doctor's comments in that they find no major problems except for Chanyeol's ankle, but they're keeping everybody overnight in case. She gathers whatever strength she has left and apologizes for the incident, informing her decision to go back to the hotel for the night. They offer to walk her back, but she politely declines and hurries out of the sliding doors, straight into the biting cold air. She straightens up the collar of her trench coat and hurries away, trying not to cry.

"Hazel, wait!" She looks over her shoulder to see Tao, wide-eyed and coatless holding out a crumpled piece of paper. "This is my and Kris' numbers, if you run into anymore trouble and need someone to call."

She didn't need it, but takes it from him anyways. "I doubt that I will run into something I can't handle."

He quickly shakes his head, frowning. "I didn't mean it like that -"

"It's fine," she holds up the paper as a gesture of peace, "thank you, Tao. I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully."

"Hazel."

Tao lets her name roll off his tongue, tinged with a heavy accent, and doesn't say anything else, just her name with no goodbyes attached, standing there in a laughable outfit of a thin long-sleeved shirt and jeans that does nothing for the freezing temperatures of Seoul. For some reason, he smiles, the corners of his lips turned up in an obvious fashion as if for encouragement.

Hazel tucks the paper into her purse and walks away without giving it a second thought, her long hair whipping behind her as her mind wanders and dances and wanders to try to make sense of this moment of life.


	4. Recovery

**AN: Crystal here again!**

**WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NOW ~ read to find out! **

**leave a review while you're at it c:**

* * *

Skyla's on the edge of dreams and reality when she opens her eyes to the sight of speckled ceiling tiles, dim lighting, and the faint tone of her heartbeat working a machine next to her. Exhaustion rattles in her bones that ached from the forty-five degree angle that the nurses unsympathetically set the bed to, and Sky manages to keep awake, her gaze making holes into the ceiling and reality grips her instead, but she's too tired to do anything but just stare up. She hears the door slowly slide open but doesn't feel obligated to acknowledge whatever presence comes in.

"Are you okay?"

The kindness and real concern from behind the words stir Sky as she slowly turns her neck towards the door, trying not to trigger any pain lying dormant up and down her spine. It's the guy. It's the guy whose life she saved at the cost of injuries of others. They yelled his name: Chanyeol.

"Mmm, yeah," she says as he rolls over to her bedside in a wheelchair slowly. She finally gets a good look at him, watching as he meanders over from the door. His black hair, cut and clean ordinarily, leaves little to the imagination, and his dark brown eyes has a permanent warm glow to it. Put that together with his round face and that he is a giant, you get yourself a teddy bear spinning around in a wheelchair. Except, this teddy bear looks downright miserable, as if the world is placed on his shoulders.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he says softly, his deep voice making a gentle rumble as he avoids her eyes and stare at his long fingers. "I'm very sorry for what happened to you."

She smiles a little; being on the receiving end of a guilty apology full of sincerity takes away some of the harboring animosity. "I know you didn't mean to, and it's okay."

"Thank you for saving my life. Really, I cannot repay you for that. Ah, how rude of me, you don't even know my name. It's -"

"Chanyeol, right?"

The boy is taken back. "How do you know my name?"

Sky laughs. "Well, when I was, you know, trying to save you, your friends were yelling your name. I could only guess."

He nods and then smiles again, showing a plethora of perfect teeth that gleamed even in the dim lights overhead. "Ah, I see, and what is your name?"

Sky shuffles, pushing herself to a more upright position, sensing this conversation might continue for a while. "My name is Skyla Lin, but I just go by Sky."

"Sky?" Chanyeol says, pointing towards the ceiling, a goofy grin spreading across his face in a really lame attempt to break Sky's polite guise.

A ghost of amusement attaches itself to her lips, but it's merely for his benefit. "Yeah, just like the sky above." She notices that Chanyeol always seems to be smiling, the corners of his mouth refusing to obey the laws of gravity and come back down as he compliments the prettiness of her simple name.

She nods politely. "Thanks, and so what did the doctor say about your ankle?"

"How did you know that?"

Sky believes that they have reached a point where she is allowed to roll her eyes without repercussions, but couldn't help and smile at his obliviousness. "I'm not deaf, so I overhear things, not to mention that I understand Korean, you know. How do you think we are even talking right now?"

He laughs good-naturedly, a nice, hearty sound that embodies his chronic happiness. "Of course, I'm sorry, again. But um, they said it's just sprained for now, but they'll run x-rays later today to find any cracks or something."

"Today? But it's pretty late already, right?" Sky finally looks at the windows, standard white blinds that could barely hide the creeping sunlight through the cracks. It's already daytime. How long was she out? The natural light lazily illuminates half of the room. How did she not even notice that the sun's out? More importantly where's -

Sky makes a loud, inhuman noise, grabbing her blanket to shield her face. Chanyeol must have thought that her deep, contemplative stare at the windows and the sudden lack of interest in the conversation has to mean that she really wants to see the outside world. Thus, he maneuvers over and swiftly pulls on the blinds suddenly flooding the room with strong beams of light and into her eyes, not fast enough to adjust to the sudden change.

"Sky?! I'm so sorry, I thought you wanted the windows open!" He rushes over to her side hastily.

She blinks long and hard, rubbing them to erase the phosphenes dancing in her line of vision. "No, it's fine, it's fine, don't worry about it. What time is it?"

"10:04 in the morning," Chanyeol says, a deep look of worry etched onto his face as if he never smiled just a few moments before. He leans forward, his gray, hospital-issued wheelchair creaking as he shifts. Sky can count the wrinkles around his eyes, which are now the size of quarters from before, and see that his hair is in ruffled disarray instead of clean and neat, like before. He's the human equivalent of a wounded puppy.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Sky Lin wonders how many times she would have to repeat herself for his sake.

"You hurt your back pretty badly yesterday," he says, reaching out and touching her arm to make sure she's okay. "The doctors said that they don't think it's going to be serious, but they'll run some tests today also to make sure."

She raises an eyebrow. "I don't remember them saying that at all."

"You fell asleep when they were talking, actually. I promised to tell you what you missed." Chanyeol looks away shyly, his smile switched back on. "You sleep very still and peacefully. It looked ... nice."

"You were watching me sleep? You creep."

His reaction beats the speed of light as his expression shifts from a bashful schoolboy to an embarrassed five-year old. "Hey, wait a minute, I didn't it mean it like that!"

"Okaaaaaay, don't be offended. I know people who are into much weirder things than watching girls sleep."

Any spell of awkwardness completely shatters as he persistently protests against her assumption, and making a face when she giggles uncontrollably. Chanyeol tries to hide his expression of insulted, but fails. He's like an open book.

When her laughter calms down, Sky, loosened up from her tired state, says, "How are the others doing? They must have taken it harder than I have."

He waves it off. "Oh, they're not as bad as we are. Bruises here and bruises there, but nothing too serious. They'll heal in no time."

"Really, just bruises here and there?" A newcomer pops his head unexpectedly at the doorway, an annoyed expression on his face as the pair jolts at the sight of him. He comes into full view, also dressed in the issued patient wear hanging loosely on his slender frame. A half-smile reveals a dimple in his right cheek, but the smile doesn't travel to his dazed eyes. "Really, you're too cruel!"

He introduces himself as Yixing - his name explains the reasoning behind his accented Korean - and continues to put down Chanyeol's statement downplaying their injuries. Yixing claims that he saw his life flash before his eyes and how he would never feel the "absolute pleasure of feeling his legs as he runs through a meadow" ever again. His audience of two responds quite favorably, laughing loudly, and Sky finds herself in the company of two comedians, building upon each other's jokes till the three of them have tears in their eyes, gaily enjoying themselves. They didn't notice someone coming and standing solemnly at the door.

"Hey!"

The three of them immediately turn and see another guy, instantly breaking the cheery ambience in a sunny-lit room. Sky wonders how many boys she is going to meet because it's already hard enough keeping track of the identities of a handful of boys. This one is also dressed in patient's wear and his lips, tight and closed, are turned up slightly, giving the illusion of amusement at all times, yet his eyes look dead and serious, a dash of resentment. He folds his arms, leaning against the door frame with his eyebrows furrowed, as he says, "The company is here."

Chanyeol and Yixing share the same open-jawed look. "The managers are here? Jongdae, are you sure?" Yixing asks, getting up quickly from the foot of Sky's bed.

"Yeah, and we better go to Jongin's room now, if you're not too busy being occupied." His eyes flickers at Sky, and he frowns. "Let's go."

What is going on?

Yixing pushes Chanyeol in his wheelchair hurriedly out of her room without so much as a goodbye. Sky leans back on her bed and rubs her temples. Company could mean visitors, but the unhappy guy put "the" before "company," so it must mean a corporation of some sorts. What could the five hospitalized guys have to do with a company? They seem a little young to be immersed in a business tenure, but why would they care about their fates? This is too much.

A soft series of knocks echoes into the room, a pattern quite familiar to Sky and she sighs, her face becoming as bright as her room. "Hazel! Dude, where have you been?! I'm so glad you're here."

Her American accomplice walks in, decked out in a white cable-knit sweater and dark blue jeans, and slung over her shoulder is a bright red satchel almost bursting at the seams. Hazel gives her a reassuring smile as she sits in a chair next to her bed. "Hey, I came here as fast as I could!" she claims. "It's good to see you, sort of." She gestures at her satchel. "I don't know how long you'll be staying, so I got some fresh clothes for you to change into. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to wear dirty clothes again. I'll take them back to the hotel later today."

As Hazel pulls out random articles of her clothing and folds them, Sky gets her caught up with the happenings of everything that has happened up until this moment. She parrots the information about her back complications but that she doesn't feel it that badly anymore and she's quickly recovering, besides that there is nothing to worry about.

"Speaking of things to worry about," Hazel says as she places the clothes on the nightstand, a sly glint in her eye. "I saw two guys being escorted out of your room just a few minutes ago. What's that about?

Sky doesn't even bat an eyelash. "Oh, the one in the wheelchair, Chanyeol, came in and apologized and a bunch of other stuff and the guy pushing him is Yixing. We were just talking when one of their friends came and I don't know - they had to go somewhere, I guess."

"Did something come up?"

Sky shakes her head, though not exactly saying no. "Ehhh, I really don't know -"

Hazel waves it off. "It's probably not that big of a deal, but boy do I have something to tell you. You won't believe what happened to me this morning." She hops from her chair and plops herself at the foot of Sky's bed, its previous occupant long forgotten. "I was at the hotel room this morning, getting ready to come here and -"

Her listener puts her hand up. "Whoa, wait a second. You went back to the hotel and left me here? By myself? With these baboons?"

"Yeah, well, it was getting awkward and late and I wanted to sleep so -"

"You abandoner."

"Not important right now! Let me finish and you can continue the abandoner thing later." Hazel pushes up on her glasses and takes a deep breath before going. "Anyways, I was getting ready and then someone knocks on the door. I had no idea who it could be, you know, since Sooyeon and them have a hangover and room service never comes that early."

"Uh huh," Sky interrupts sarcastically.

"Shut up, Sky. Anyways, I go open the door and you know who was standing there? Kris, but it's reasonably understandable 'cause we actually know who he is and stuff, but he's with two other guys: Minesok, who I met last night and I thought he was pretty nice to me so I didn't mind, and then ... I saw Murder Eyes."

"What the … Murder Eyes?" Sky enunciates.

Hazel brushes her hair from her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. "It's the guy who was giving you the devil's eye when we were on the streets. Though I should stop calling him that; his real name is Kyungsoo. Anyways, they said that they were there to pick me up to go to the hospital."

Her hospitalized friend raises one arched eyebrow, sitting up as straight as she could without reaching the boundary of pain. "What? They picked you up? At our hotel room? And brought you here? That's preeeeeetty weird."

"Right?" Hazel says exasperatedly. "Like, I don't even need bodyguards to come here. It just takes a lot of walking. Also, it was completely awkward. Kris and Minesok talked to me and it was nice, but Kyungsoo barely said anything." She throws her hands up in the air. "Only thing he said was how our room looked really messy and I really wanted to say something but I held back. Tao was supposed to come but he overslept so Kyungsoo came in his place, but I'm pretty sure it was against his will."

Chuckling at Hazel's pouting face, Sky nudges her with her foot. "Maybe they feel bad so they're trying to be extra nice to us."

Hazel purses her lips. "Yeah sure, they all feel guilty, but anyways, you should hurry up and get better! We don't have much time before we go back to school, you know."

"Do you think I want to spend the rest of our winter break in a hospital room, stupid, and since I'm a patient, you should take care of me, so yeah, can you get me something to eat or drink please?"

"Fattie."

"Dummy."

With that graceful parting, Hazel bounces away, her long hair trailing around the edge of the door and she kindly shuts it for her. Sky, at peace at last, presses some buttons to make the bed completely flat. She curls up in a ball, snuggling into the surprisingly soft blanket and drifts into back to sleep. It's not 1:00 in the afternoon yet, so she's got some time before she actually has to wake up.

Hazel strolls down the corridor, watching various doctors, nurses, and hospital staff milling and going on about their businesses. It holds a busy atmosphere, on the verge of organized chaos, but she luckily manages to stay out of their ways, save for a few close calls.

Turning a couple of corners to avoid bumping into people, she finds herself walking down the windows of the hallway, hazily illuminating the floor and accommodating to her shadow. Before she realizes it, Hazel leans against the tall windowsill, propping herself up with her elbows as she sees the bustling of the people of Seoul down below continue on for a new day. Her life has taken an interesting turn, though more so on the side of worse, yet this foreign city carries on with its normal routines. Something so sprawling and grand and alien never seems to stop as its buildings jut out against the pale blue sky, save for some clouds, and cars slowly making their way to their destination noisily, even with the sound walls of the hospital and being up on the third floor. She itches to immerse herself again in it among the crowd of people and explore every nook and cranny of Seoul with Sky.

"Hazel?" The familiar, deep, husky voice that speaks her name accented abruptly draws her out of her cliché, deep contemplation of life and she looks up. It's Tao, surprisingly, dressed in a red shirt peeking from under a wooly cardigan paired with holey jeans. He has a wide-eyed expression and slightly out of breath. She didn't know whether to feel embarrassed for his deranged state of confusion or being caught staring out the window sighing loudly. She laughs anyways, tucking her long, black hair behind her ear shyly. He stops in front of her, his tousled hair almost spilling into his eyes, but still manages a small smile.

"Hey, Tao! It's good to see that you sleep well today."

He blushes. "I was really going to come pick you up, but I guess I kind of overslept. I'm sorry."

"Are you sure you're sleeping well? Your dark circles look a bit unhealthy."

"I was born with them."

"Oh. Oh, wow, that's the first time I've heard that before. Are you serious?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm serious."

Hazel is pretty much kicking her mental self in the head for starting off a conversation by pointing out things wrong with his face. Tao doesn't seem to be taking it to heart and chuckles, but probably at her.

"Do you know where the other rooms are?" Tao asks, craning his neck to scan the numbers of the rooms lining up along the wall.

Hazel pushes up her glasses. "I'm not entirely sure, honestly. I just came from Sky's and I'm about to go looking for something for her to eat."

"Yeah, but I don't think hospitals have good food," says Tao.

"Really? But I bought some tea the day before and -"

"Convenience store around the corner, we should check that out. I passed by it when I was coming here."

"When you were running for your life to get here on time?"

He laughs again. "Especially so. Let's go!"

"Are you sure? We shouldn't be gone for too long."

"Nah, nah, we won't take long. I need to buy stuff anyways."

Tao starts walking down the hallway back where he came from and Hazel is about to trail after him before she realizes something. "But why should I go with you? We just met yesterday. You could be a serial killer."

He whips around. "Wait, wait, I'm not a serial killer."

"I could be a serial killer." She bites the insides of her cheeks.

Hazel believes that if this boy's eyes grow any larger, they'll pop right out of his head. She throws her head back and chuckles so hard she almost chokes on air. "I'm kidding, really! We should hurry now."

Tao certainly did not expect a friendly girl with large glasses and normal to have such weird answers and quickly trails after her, loudly professing that she doesn't even know where the convenience store is.

* * *

The doctors said that it's only a slight sprain in her back and as long as she doesn't put too much pressure on it, she'll be okay. Or, they kind of said it through a slightly incompetent, grinning translator who explained in senseless English and used hand gestures to fill in the gaps. Without any chance to exercise her comparatively larger knowledge of their native tongue, Sky is whisked away back to her room in a wheelchair and given a vague decision of either more doctoral observations or official discharge. She's uncertain about all of that stuff, but she knows one thing for certain.

Hazel Tran is taking way too long to get her food.

Skyla Lin can feel hunger pangs creeping around her stomach and grimaces; she tries to put that out of her mind by practicing wheeling around the room, careful to not strain her back as noted. Soon, she got the basics down. Then, she is a wheelchair prodigy, speeding up and down her room, spinning in circles, but can't seem to brake easily. Sky shouts and whoops as she turns particularly sharp corners and as quickly as her gleeful moments came, it fades as soon as her stomach grumbles like thunder.

"What is taking her so long?" Sky says aloud, a prickly feeling of annoyance rising in her gut. She decides to go out and look for Hazel, grabs the handle of the door, and flings it open.

Chanyeol, seated in wheelchair and hand raised to knock on her door, is situated right outside her room and taken aback by the sudden disappearing of the door and the appearing of Skyla Lin, also in a wheelchair. However, she couldn't stop the momentum of her wheelchair and crashes into Chanyeol's, propelling him across the hallway and bouncing off the wall.

"Whoa, what, wait, Chanyeol? Oh my gosh, are you okay? What are you doing out here?"

His nice smile, which she has come to familiarize over the course of the day, returns again. "I'm okay, sorry; I didn't mean to scare you like that. I just thought you might get hungry." Chanyeol extends a dark green snack bar to her and as she grasps it, she notices the words printed on the bar turns out to be -

"Seaweed," Sky enunciates every syllable for confirmation, and then smiles gratefully. "Wow, I actually like seaweed stuff. Thanks, Chanyeol, really, this means a lot."

"N-no problem, really," the gentle giant quietly says, looking down at his hands again. "My friend brought me some. I think you'll meet him soon. You would like him. His name is Baekhyun. I have all kinds of food to eat so if you want anything, I have it. Well, not everything because I don't have everything but like," Chanyeol turns redder and redder by the second, "you know what I mean, right?"

Sky's under the influence of a nice-tasting snack, but his words bubble on the surface and she gives it as much attention as she can muster. "Hmm," She chuckles. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. Baekhyun sounds like a nice guy; you should keep him around as a friend longer. Thanks Chanyeol."

The two patients, the girl nibbling quickly on a snack bar with her tousled hair pulled back from her face and the boy having a nice shade of strawberry red creep into his cheeks and ears, just sit in the middle of the hallway in wheelchairs with awkward body language and shared silence. Even eye contact is avoided. Some of the staff notices this spectacle that took up residence in a public, inconvenience place and continues on in hushed tones.

One passerby, also wearing a hospital-issued white large shirt and pants, stops instantly, however, his eyes widening and smirks at the sight. He slowly makes his way over, shuffling slowly with his hand on his right hip towards the odd pair. "Hey, hyung!" he calls out cheerily.

"Jongin!"

* * *

"It's for my friends," Tao claims as he grabs the most random pieces of food, flying from aisle to aisle while cradling the chosen ones in his arms. "They're in the hospital too."

Hazel looks alarmed. "But they're only five of them! They eat that much?"

He laughs nervously and continues his polite ransacking of the entire convenience store, reading out loud the labels as he goes. The lady at the cashier eyes him suspiciously the whole time, her arms folded and ready to pounce if any shoplifting occurs. Hazel tries her best to stay out of his way as she inspects the flavors of the ramen carefully, her fingers running over the characters on the plastic covering. Wait, one of them doesn't make any sense. She picks up one large ramen cup with bright orange and red colors, the name of the ramen scrawled in big black print.

"개, gae?" Shock settles on her senses. "They make these kinds of ramen?"

Tao appears by her side. "What did you say?"

"Here, it says 개 flavor on it! I didn't know they make this stuff here."

"What? No way, let me see it!" Tao trades with Hazel at least half of the goods in his hands for one measly ramen cup.

He stares at it and then sighs, exasperated. "Hazel, it's not 개, it's 게, ge."

"What? They aren't the same?"

"Noooo, Hazel, the ramen flavor 게, not 개."

"You just said it twice."

"Gaaaaaaeee, ge."

"What?"

"게, 게, 게!"

Then it hits her. 게 means crab, while 개 means dog. She read the flavor as dog-flavored.

A brief silence ensues as he laughs uncontrollably at her wide-eyed reaction. She tries her best not to look at Tao and stares at the plentiful varieties of snacks in her arms. Her face turns so red that she feels as if its on fire.

"Let's pretend this never happened, please," she says quietly, still staring down at the food.

"Why?" he says while still doubled over in laughter. "It's funny! Don't be embarrassed about it."

Hazel still says nothing, biting the inside of her cheeks as she's given back her personally unreadable, crab-flavored ramen and puts back on the shelf and quickly hides her face as she goes back into looking for more options. Oh, she hopes it isn't unhealthy in terms in the amount of blood that comes rushing in and out of her cheeks so suddenly today.

Tao offers to pay for her simple treats for Sky and herself in addition to his myriad stock of food and after displaying his obvious strength over her as they progress from polite arguing to near wrestling, she begrudgingly agrees, though she doesn't do a very good job of hiding the bruises to her pride.

Afterwards, they find themselves at the mercy of the cold air and Tao gently coaxes the gaiety out of Hazel again, promising not to tell anybody what happened earlier with her illiterate mishap. She solemnly nods and begins to fill the air quickly with her little anecdotes and he tries to match with her, a discussion that flows at ease.

"That's how I managed to get stuck in a tree," Hazel finishes a tale of childhood woe, earning a gale of laughter from her audience of one. They match their paces well, the rhythm of their soles scuffling on the pavement of Seoul, swinging their groceries in their hands. Unexpectedly, the temperatures take a dip into biting iciness against the back of her neck.

"Ah, it's so cold!" Hazel shrieks, and then takes off running full speed down the street. "I can't take this anymore!"

"WHAT, WAIT, HAZEL!"

And she's like a kid again, her legs stretching farther and farther as her feet pounds against the concrete, and turns the corner. The hospital is not that far ahead and she screeches to a stop, wildly out of breath and adrenaline pumping through her veins. Hazel looks over her shoulder for Tao to see if he caught up. He's not there. "Slowpoke," Hazel announces.

"Who are you calling slowpoke?" Tao calls out and she finds him over on her far left, leaning against a pillar that's part of a nearby shop, his obvious attempt of appearing to be waiting a long while for her. His ragged breathing gives it away.

"Nice try, Tao, but I clearly won this time."

"Not true or fair, you had a good head start. If you want to win, we have to do it all over again."

"I don't need to do it over because I already won!"

Then, her male companion shivers, bringing up his shoulders only for a moment. As quickly as her spontaneous, elated childishness came, it disappears as she frowns, getting closer to Tao. "Are you alright? Is it too cold?"

"Uh, yeah, a little, but it's okay. Running actually helped a lot, surprisingly."

"Oh ... okay, well, we should get you inside either way, come on."

"Of course, of course. It just takes a while for me to warm up." Tao clutches his cardigan tighter around his torso. Hazel couldn't help herself as she touches his wooly outerwear, only to discover how thin the fabric actually is.

Hazel puts down the bags at her feet and begins to rummage through her purse. "Your clothes aren't doing you much good. Why didn't you wear something warmer?"

"I thought the weather would be warmer," he provides a dull answer.

"That's a bad excuse. There's snow everywhere."

"But -" Tao cuts off mid-sentence as Hazel Tran, rising to the balls of her feet, puts her only scarf she brought to Korea around his neck.

"This should keep you warm then," she remarks, revealing a set of dimples of her own, little dents tucking themselves away in the folds of her cheeks.

He couldn't make sense of it, tripping over his own thoughts. "I barely even know you."

"Same goes for you!" Her long fingers swiftly bring the two ends together and begin to knot the stretchy fabric together. She looks up at him, her eyes full of mirth. "Well, not sure if you know this, but my full name is Hazel Tran or," she switches to Chinese, "_Chen Qiu Mei_. Yours?"

His gaze softens, his gray-ringed eyes lighting up. "_Huang Zitao._"

"Do you have an English name?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"Embarrassing."

"Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Hobbies?"

"I do martial - hey, hey, hey, that's too tight!" She had accidentally pushed the knot up too tight around his neck and stops in surprise before bursting into laughter, her fingers thoughtlessly making the knot looser.

"It's perfect now. Are you warmer?"

He smiles gratefully, pulling the scarf up to cover his face more. "Yeah, definitely. Thank you, Hazel. But, aren't you going to be cold too?"

Hazel shakes her head. "The cold never bothered me anyway."

"Race you inside!" She flies straight down the street and into the hospital. She bypasses the puzzled receptionists, darting in and out of people's ways, and slams her hand onto the elevator button. It opens up quickly and she hops inside, and Tao flies in behind her just as the elevator doors shut, the red scarf just barely missing being stuck between the doors.

The laughter is contagious and they're caught up in the fun of the moment, the air slowly warming up the numbing feeling of their fingers. She does a quick inspection of her bags to make sure everything is still inside the thin plastic confines and decent condition for consumption. When the sleek, silver doors open up again, Hazel takes the initial step forward and scans the hallway, eerily barren and quiet except for subtle footsteps and faint chatter. She tries to remember where the residential rooms are.

"I wonder if they're hungry," she says absent-mindedly. "I hope they are - wait, what's that - ?!"

"Get out of the way - YAH!"

Hazel turns around to see someone in a wheelchair trying to stop himself from hurtling towards her and before she could even register what's going on, he bumps into her and sends her tumbling to the ground.

"Whoa, hey, are you okay?" his voice loudly echoes as she pushes herself upright, groaning slightly, disoriented from the shift of gravity. Tao grabs her arm and suddenly pulls her up, jerking her back roughly. Hazel stumbles and opens her mouth to protest and as soon as she looks up, more shouts erupt in the air and the sound of wheelchairs crashing. The guy who knocked her over is now sprawled on the ground himself, and along with another person curled in a ball, giggling. It's Minesok, his soft laughter reducing him to a child, and joined by another guy, one she remembers to be Luhan, who also falls out and decides to roll around like a slug. The other three guys manage to stay in their wheelchairs point and howl with laughter at the fallen.

"What's going on?" Tao says, though his words falling on deaf ears. Hazel, still a little dazed, sees Skyla Lin and Chanyeol furiously wheeling around the corner, shoving each other out of the way and yelling taunts. They let go of their wheels, letting themselves crash into the obstacles in the middle of the hallway, nearly toppling over the other two guys.

"Oh, Hazel, you're back!" Sky shouts over the clamor gleefully, waving to her open-jawed friend clutching convenience store snacks. "Finally! What took you so long? I almost died from hunger."

"Glad to see you're doing better," Hazel manages to muster up some words as Sky takes the bag of goods from her friend. "What's going on?"

"Wheelchair racing!" she says, "but I wasn't exactly winning here."

"Why is Minesok racing with you guys? Did he get hurt between this morning and now?"

"Oh no, he wanted to join. Actually, the only ones who need wheelchairs is me and Chanyeol over here. The other patients don't actually need it. One of the guys, Sehun, wanted to join in too."

Sky, entirely relaxed and beaming, takes it upon herself to introduce her entourage of boys wrecking havoc in a hospital. The one that ran Hazel over and is now trapped in an impromptu wrestling match between Minesok and Luhan is Jongdae, who is erupting in loud exclamations trying to appeal to his hyungs to let him go. The trio who survived the Great Wheelchair Crash are Jongin, Yixing, and Sehun, the two former being real patients and the latter that aspired to win the race, who are on their feet around them cheering and clapping, overrun with merriment. Tao merges with the spectators and acts as a referee, shouting random, nonsensical fouls that send them over the edge of hysteria.

Before Hazel could fully register what is happening, a quiet clearing of the throat pierces the air, a small sound that halts the conversations, from behind her. They turn and see a portly, old man with round glasses and a full head of white hair standing before Minesok, Luhan, and Jongdae, still oblivious in their battle. The man, wearing a long lab coat and a stethoscope around his neck and his hands behind his back, stares sternly at the raucous display at his feet. The three guys finally realize the completely still atmosphere and slowly look up, entirely freezing up at the sight of the doctor with Luhan putting Minesok in a headlock who is sitting on top of Jongdae, their eyes in shock and a bit of fear. Everybody wears the same stunned, dumbstruck expression, tension mounting so thickly in the air that you could swim through it, and nobody dares to breathe.

None of them has the faintest idea on what to do.


End file.
